


By The Fireplace

by eriah211



Category: Primeval
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Cabin Fic, Christmas Fluff, Fix-It, Gen, M/M, Not Christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-05 05:05:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10298174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eriah211/pseuds/eriah211
Summary: Sort of fix-it for episode 3x03.The team has to spend a night in a cabin in the woods.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for nietie for the primeval_denial Secret Santa 2013 using the prompts 2- Temporary Lodgings and 3- Missed Opportunity (and 1- Guardian Angel, if you squint). 
> 
> Thanks muchly to the wonderful fredbassett for the beta and the encouragement. All remaining mistakes are mine and mine alone.
> 
> Posted originally on livejournal in 2013.

 

“Wow,” Stephen said.” Some people really hate taking off the Christmas decorations.”  
  
The dusty cabin showed clearly that its owner was an enthusiastic fan of Christmas and that he or she didn’t think there was such thing as too many Santa Claus figurines in people’s lives. Fortunately for the team there were also a lot of decorative candles, so they weren’t going to have any problems at night if the generator didn’t work.   
  
“Maybe they thought they could leave them for the next time,” Ryan said.  
  
“Yes, because dusting off hundreds of Christmas ornaments after a year is probably going to be easier than re-decorating, right?” Stephen replied teasingly.  
  
“Maybe they didn’t think it through,” Ryan said, shrugging, and then he stepped forward to search the rest of the rooms.  
  
Considering it was already February and the owner hadn’t tidied up the place since Christmas, it had obviously been a good idea to bring their own supplies and equipment. The weather hadn’t been too bad lately for that time of year, but the cabin was deep in the woods and the road to the nearest town was long and not very well maintained.  
  
“You could give us a hand, you know?” Stephen said to Danny while he helped Cutter to bring the bags inside.  
  
Danny had walked into the cabin with a small backpack and had started looking around the place, rummaging through drawers and dusting off hideous ceramic figurines to get a better look at them.  
  
“I found us this place for free and just around the place where the anomaly had appeared” he answered. “I think I’ve already helped a lot.”  
  
“So your plan is to get comfortable and do nothing?” Cutter asked. “I don’t know why you bothered to come with us, then.”  
  
“You hurt my feelings, Professor,” Danny replied grinning and then he turned back to rummage through the cupboard.  
  
Stephen rolled his eyes and Cutter just huffed and went back to the car, leaving Danny to his exploration.  
  
  


 

***

 

 

Once they had checked the generator worked and they had distributed the rooms, they tried to decide how to manage the situation. There had been an anomaly alert, but by the time they had arrived in the exact place, there was nothing there. There were many trails, but since it was a forest in the middle of nowhere, even Stephen had found it difficult to say if they were just trails of random wild animals or something that had come through an anomaly.  
  
“The situation doesn’t seem to be critical,” Cutter said. “We can wait until tomorrow to make a more thorough check of the surrounding area. If we’re lucky we’ll find nothing.”  
  
“At least we know that nothing too big has come through the anomaly,” Ryan said. “Otherwise we’d have seen the trail easily.”  
  
“That doesn’t mean that some other smaller creatures haven’t come through it, Captain,” Cutter replied.   
  
“Always the optimist, Professor,” Danny said.  
  
“Always careful, Quinn,” Cutter replied.  
  
“And we will be,” Ryan interrupted before they could go on. “That’s why I think we should go out to gather some wood. That generator seems to have already had a long life, I’d hate it if it died on us at night. At least this way we could use the fireplace and the stove even if the generator doesn’t work.”  
  
“We could always burn the Christmas decorations...” Cutter suggested.  
  
“Oh, c’mon, where’s your Christmas spirit?” Danny asked.  
  
“It’s February!”  
  
“They say we should keep it all year long!”  
  
“This is going to be exhausting,” Ryan whispered to Stephen, who was trying to hide a smile.  
  
“A big creature coming through the anomaly doesn’t sound that bad now, does it?” Stephen said.  
  
“At least it would make them stop bickering,” Ryan answered. “The man saved his life when Helen tried to kill him and Cutter still can’t manage to talk to Quinn for more than five minutes without arguing about something.”  
  
When Cutter and Danny’s conversation started to be about professionalism vs. impetuosity, Ryan decided to step in again.  
  
“I think wood would burn better so Stephen and I are going to go out before it gets too dark to try to bring back some, just in case,” Ryan said.  
  
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Stephen asked him, obviously wondering if they should leave them alone.  
  
“I’m sure the professor and Quinn can behave like adults while we’re away,” Ryan answered while giving them a warning look.  
  
“Oh, don’t worry, Captain, we’ll find something to do,” Danny said smiling broadly. It was supposed to be a reassuring smile, but somehow it didn’t make Ryan or Stephen feel reassured at all.  
  
  


 

***

 

 

Soon after Stephen and Ryan had gone, Danny took an old shoe box from one of the drawers and brought it with him to the fireplace. He spread a dusty blanket on the floor and sat on it with his back against an old couch.  
  
“You do realize that there is no fire in the fireplace,” Cutter said, “that’s why they’ve had to go out to find wood.”  
  
“Yes, I do. But there are other ways to get warmer,” Danny answered opening the box and showing him the bottle of whisky that was hidden inside.  
  
“So your plan is to get drunk?” Cutter asked in disbelief.  
  
“No, my plan is to have a drink with a fellow worker while we wait for the brave explorers to come back. Come on, I’ll tell you how I managed to get this cabin for free. It’s a good story!” Danny added patting the floor by his side.  
  
Cutter stared at Danny’s cheeky grin and rolled his eyes.  
  
“If I’m going to have to hear your stories until they come back I think I’ll need a drink,” Cutter said, giving up. “Is the whisky good?”  
  
“We don’t have any other so let’s say it’s great, OK?”  
  
“All right, but we’ll need some glasses,” Cutter said.   
  
He went into the small kitchen and came back soon after with two mugs decorated with reindeer and Santa Claus smiling faces.  
  
“There wasn’t anything else in the cupboard,” he explained apologetically. “And I’m not sure the sink even works. I decided not to try.”  
  
“Wise decision!” Danny said approvingly. “We don’t want to flood the place.”  
  
He took one of the mugs and poured himself a whisky.   
  
Cutter shrugged and did the same.  
  


 

***

 

 

Many drinks later the bickering had slowly turned into a more friendly banter and both men had had time to share a few stories each.  
  
“It’s taking them ages,” Cutter said looking at his watch.  
  
“Aaw, let the poor boys have some fun alone,” Danny replied winking. “They’ll eventually find their way back.”  
  
Cutter gaped and stared at him in surprise.   
  
“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed it, absentminded professor?”  
  
Cutter finally closed his mouth and frowned.  
  
“Now don’t tell me either that you are angry because the boy isn’t pinning after you any more,” Danny added raising an eyebrow.  
  
“What? No! Of course not... Wait! What do you know anyway?” Cutter replied, offended.  
  
“Soldiers are the biggest gossipmongers of them all,” Danny explained. “As I’ve heard he’d been following you around like a puppy for ages. You two have never...?”  
  
“I see coppers are big gossipmongers too,” Cutter said and took a sip of his drink.  
  
“It’s a requirement of the job,” Danny agreed seriously. “But as an ex-copper I can keep a secret, you know?”  
  
“There is no secret to keep or to tell. Nothing happened,” Cutter replied. “It didn’t seem ... appropriate.”  
  
“Not that your ex-wife seemed to have reservations about it.” Danny saw Cutter’s expression darken and tried to rectify. “Sorry, Cutter, that was a stupid thing to say. It’s just the whisky talking.”  
  
They both stared at their drinks in silence for a while. It was in fact getting darker and colder, but the whisky was already keeping them warm.  
  
“She doesn’t seem to have reservations about many things, as you have seen,” Cutter said quietly.  
  
“That woman is scary as hell, Cutter,” Danny admitted honestly. “I wonder how you managed when you two were married, I would have slept with one eye open.”  
  
“She wasn’t like that when I met her,” Cutter explained. He stared at the empty fireplace thoughtfully for a moment and then sighed. “Or maybe it’s just that I didn’t notice it.”  
  
Cutter massaged lightly his right shoulder. The gunshot wound had already healed, but it still ached sometimes. Danny just stared at his drink trying to keep his mouth shut.  
  
“Have I thanked you for saving my life?” Cutter asked suddenly.  
  
“Once or twice, but you were under the effects of good medical drugs so you probably don’t remember it,” Danny answered.  
  
“Well, here's the third time then: thank you for saving me from Helen,” Cutter said, raising his Christmas mug. “That was one hell of a tackle!”  
  
“First time ever that I wasn’t worried about having to hit a woman!” Danny said grinning while he clinked their mugs. “Happy February 19th!”  
  


 

***

 

 

When Stephen and Ryan came back to the cabin they found Cutter and Danny sitting on the floor and laughing uncontrollably. The two Christmas mugs in their hands and the almost empty bottle by their side gave them a clue about how the other two had ended up in a situation like that, but still Stephen couldn’t stop staring wide-eyed at both men.  
  
“See?” Ryan said elbowing him. “And you said they’d kill each other if it took us too long to come back.”  
  
“Well, it looks like they found some common ground,” Stephen admitted.  
  
“Uh-huh, alcohol,” Ryan agreed nodding solemnly.  
  
Stephen rolled his eyes, but couldn’t disagree with him. Danny was in the middle of a story that involved a racehorse that somehow had been brought into the police station and Cutter seemed to find it utterly funny, by the way he kept bursting into laughter again and again.  
  
“It’s kind of scary, isn’t it?” Stephen asked.   
  
“Not really,” Ryan answered, “It’s more like... weird. But this is much better than their constant bickering.”  
  
Apart from a quick greeting when they had come into the cabin, Danny and Cutter hadn’t been paying them much attention. It looked like they had discovered they had many things to talk about, relevant or not.  
  
“Do you think they’ll still be so friendly with each other in the morning?” Ryan asked.  
  
“I really don’t know,” Stephen answered frowning. “This just doesn’t seem right.”  
  
Ryan stared at Stephen worried face and his expression darkened slightly. It wasn’t a secret that Stephen and Cutter had been very close for many years, even if recently they had drifted apart because of Helen.  
  
Stephen turned to look and Ryan and seemed to notice his change of mood and the thoughts that must be running through the soldier’s head. Stephen’s expression softened and, taking a step forward, he kissed lightly Ryan’s lips.   
  
“It’s nothing like that,” Stephen said. “It’s just that I would have never imagined that Cutter could be friends with somebody like Danny.”  
  
“Sometimes life surprises you,” Ryan replied smiling warmly. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”  
  
“I completely agree,” Stephen said.  
  
Another burst of laughter made Stephen roll his eyes and sigh.  
  
“Some other times it’s not so good though,” he said. “I think we should lock the door in case they decide that a night trip into the woods would be fun.”  
  
“Good idea,” Ryan agreed.  
  
  
-END-


End file.
